A Knights Struggle, and a Curse of Grimm
by Phantom Lana
Summary: Jaunes one dream had always been to live up to his family's legacy, to be a hero, someone people could look up to and feel safe and protected. When an injury received from a Grimm has long term affects on him, he is left with only two choices. Risk it all and carry on his dream, or throw in the towel and return home. It's a shame he's too stubborn to even consider the second option
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: So, this is my first RWBY fanfic. It will also be one of my first fanfics as well. If you don't like it then sorry :P Maybe next fic will be something you can enjoy. The concept of what I expect this story to turn into probably isn't super original but I thought it was interesting enough to give it a shot. I hope you all find it interesting, and look forward to more.**_

 _ **I guess without further ado, please enjoy the read.**_

 _ **[Insert of Obvious Disclaimer Here is Obvious]**_

* * *

Jaune forced his eyes open as he slowly came to, his entire body aching and protesting against him as he struggled to move even the slightest amount. His mind fought to recollect anything as Jaune tried to recall what had led to him being in a hospital bed with an iv and a few other devices attached to him. His cobalt eyes scanned the room, locking onto his weapon, Crocea Mors that was leaning up against one of the walls. He let out a small sigh, glad to know that whatever happened to him didn't result in him losing his weapon. He used his left hand and tried to force himself up, only to immediately stop when pain erupted from his right side.

"What the hell?!" Jaune groaned out, all the air leaving him as he tried to make the pain stop, freezing in place in hopes that it would cause the agony to pass faster. Luckily for Jaune, after a short minute, but for him what felt like an eternity, the pain dissipated leaving behind a dull ache in his ribs. Jaune took a deep breath, sliding his left hand across the beds surface hoping to find a way to call a nurse or just someone so he could finally get an answer to all the questions that were currently flooding his brain.

He felt a small plastic object brush against his fingertips, carefully craning his neck to see what he had found, he couldn't stop the small smile that came across his face. In his current situation, Jaune would take any small victories he could. He raised the remote up to his face, before glancing across all the buttons, trying to figure out which one he needed to push.

Once he finally found and pressed the button he was searching for, he was left lying perfectly still in silence. His eyes fixated on the door to his left as he waited for someone to finally come through it. After fifty-three seconds had passed by, Jaune finding nothing better to do than counting the seconds until someone showed up, Jaune heard two voices approaching his room. One a deeper and masculine voice that he could've sworn he had heard at least once before, the other was a sharper, more feminine voice that he instantly recognized as Glynda Goodwitch. Jaune struggled to figure out where he had heard the male voice from, unable to find the answer before the door was pushed open, the question was answered for him as he stared into the eyes of the headmaster of Beacon Academy, Ozpin himself.

"It's good to see you awake Mr. Arc, you've been unconscious for the last few days." Ozpin spoke calmly, grabbing a chair from the wall and sliding it up next to his bedside. "If it's not too much to ask, can you tell me how you're feeling?" The grey-haired man gave Jaune a reassuring smile before taking a sip from the coffee cup in his hand.

Jaunes eyes moved back and forth between the two adults before him, before he forced himself to speak, "Not too great, my right side feels like it's been stomped on by a elephant…" Jaune paused as he struggled to breathe, almost as if to accentuate the pain he was trying to describe. "What… what happened to me?"

"You are unable to remember it?" Glynda spoke up in concern as she narrowed her eyes on the blonde boy before her, who just shook his head in response to her question. Glynda sighed before placing her hand on her chin as she seemed to contemplate something.

"You see, Mr. Arc, there was an accident during one of the training expeditions to the Emerald Forest. The accident involved you and Miss Schnee from Team RWBY." Jaunes blood seemed to freeze at Ozpins words, unable or perhaps just unwilling to process the information. As the headmaster opened his mouth to continue Jaune cut him off. Struggling to sit up as he fought against the immense pain that broke out in his side, Jaune forced himself to raise his back off the bed, his blue eyes staring into Ozpins brown eyes.

"Weiss… She's okay, right?" Jaune choked out, fighting against all the pain that continued to dance through his body, his fists tightening their grip on the sheets in an attempt to help him ignore the pain. Ozpin placed his free hand on Jaunes shoulder and slowly pushed him back down.

"Miss Schnee is fine, her Aura was completely drained and she had a few scrapes and bruises, along with a minor head injury. She has been recovering quite well in her dorm. Her injuries would have been a lot more significant if you hadn't saved her." Glynda paused in her explanation at the look of utter confusion that had come over the young knights' features, she shook her head before continuing, "Your team, as well as Team RWBY had gone into the Emerald Forest for training, during this training exercise a Deathstalker appeared and had caught Miss Schnee by surprise, and knocked her down a cliff side. You had been the closest to her at the moment and attempted to save her by diving after and catching her."

Jaune nodded his head along with the womans' story, trying to recall the events in his own mind as she spoke. He could see the images slowly coming back to him, they were blurry and distorted but he could remember what had happened, whether his memories were accurate to how she claimed things had happened or not was another thing.

Ozpin interrupted Glynda as he noticed the slight recognition on the young mans face, "I take it that you can recall some of these events."

Jaune nodded slowly, his brow furrowing as he concentrated, "I remember the horrible landing, Weiss was out cold after that point, but I was able to still move a little bit."

"It's thanks to the fact that you have such a large amount of Aura, Mr. Arc." Glynda chimed in, "Do you recall what happened after that?"

"Yeah, I remember seeing a few Grimm roaming around down there, two Beowolves and an Ursa Major. I think." Jaune let out a breath, trying his best to get any more of his memory back. "I know I fought them, and I guess since I'm here, that means I won, right?" Jaune let out a nervous chuckle at the looks the two adults were giving him. "What? What's wrong?"

Ozpin let out a sigh, before he placed his coffee mug on the floor next to his chair. "What I have to say next isn't easy. I want you to try your best to remain calm while I explain everything, can you do that for me Mr. Arc?"

"Uh, yeah… I mean yes sir." Jaune nodded numbly, unable to hide his uneasiness as his mind whirled with all the possible things that could come out of the brown-eyed man. Glynda walked over to the other side of Jaunes bed and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder but couldn't hide the pitying look in her eyes as she glanced between the two men in the room.

"Thank you, have you ever heard of a rather rare infection known as Aura poisoning, in case you haven't, I'll explain." The headmaster speaking before Jaune could even open his mouth to say he had no idea what it was. "Aura poisoning is an ailment that can affect a person who has been harmed severely by a Grimm. Those wounds you have on your right side is from one of those Grimm you had fought and has resulted in you being afflicted with the infection." Ozpin stared into Jaunes eyes as he spoke, keeping his tone as even and calm as he could. "The infection itself isn't dangerous and will naturally fade away once the persons' Aura has fully recovered and they're given time to rest and let it work its way out of their system."

Jaune, no longer able to keep himself quiet, forced Ozpin to stop so that the knight could speak, "Why tell me this? If what you've said is true then if I do have Aura poisoning, it will just go aw-." He halted in his speech as Glyndas hand tightened its grip on his right shoulder.

"I am getting to that, I understand that this is an uncomfortable situation for you but I need you to be patient. You are correct however; normal cases of Aura poisoning fade away on their own. Your case is not a normal one." Taking in a breath to prepare for what he had to say next, Ozpin allowed himself that moment to study the changes in the blonde mans face.

The light in Jaunes blue eyes faded away and panic had set in its place, his shoulders rose in a defensive manner and his whole body seemed to shake slightly as he struggled to fight back his fear. A cold sweat ran through Jaunes body, his hands gripping the sheets as tightly as he could manage in his current state.

Ozpin seemed to allow himself to take in one more breath before he pressed on. "Mr. Arc, you have what can only be described as a curse. The infection has taken a strange turn that I, nor anyone of the medical staff here has ever seen first-hand, only a handful of reports, stories, rumors and myths. We believe the infection has now combined itself with your Aura, meaning whenever you make use of your Aura, the infection itself will grow and harm you more, at least that is what we believe will happen. As of this moment, there is no known way to help or cure it, and no way to know just how it will affect you from here on out."

Once those words had left the older mans mouth, Jaune froze in place. His mind shutting down as he tried to comprehend the words he had just heard, but none of them made any sense to him. Jaune felt his heart pound violently in his chest as his breathing quickened.

Jaune wanted to run.

To get away from the two people in front of him.

To get away from Beacon, and all the people there.

To get away from the truth.

But he couldn't.

No matter how much Jaune willed himself to stand and run, his body refused to move. Whether it was exhaustion, fear or Miss Goodwitch that was holding him down and keeping him in place, he didn't know or care. His life was over, his career as a hunter obliterated right in front of his eyes before it could truly begin. His voice made a strangled sound as he tried to speak, his throat tightening while his eyes stayed focused on some random point in the air past the headmaster's head.

"I'm truly sorry, Mr. Arc."

He meant it. Even in the horribly emotional state Jaune was in at the moment, he could hear, no, he could _feel_ the sadness and regret in those words.

Jaune took a shuddering breath, forcing back his emotions and tears that threatened to build up and spill out of his eyes. "I can't be a hunter anymore." He had meant to pose that as a question but his voice failed him. He flinched when he felt the hand that had been on his shoulder tighten in a reassuring manner, his eyes flicking up to meet Miss Goodwitchs.

A small grunt had Jaune turn to meet Ozpins eyes instead, the older man fixing him with a look he couldn't quite understand. "Not entirely." Ozpins voice was calm, steady as he gained a sad smile. "As I said, this disease is practically unknown, there is no telling what could happen should you choose to continue on your path to being a hunter." The grey-haired man took a long sip of the dark liquid in his mug.

Jaune opened his mouth to speak, but kept his mouth shut as Ozpin raised a hand to tell him he wasn't finished.

"There are a few cases of Aura Poisoning transforming into something more dangerous or otherwise threatening a hunters long term career, even if they are rather vague in detail they are share enough similarities to your current predicament. One of the few reported cases was said to have retired after contracting it. That person lived a long life, and died of old age. Another of the cases continued their work as a huntsman, having the infection since they were 26, the illness affected them throughout the entirety of their career, but they lived until the age of 43 and sacrificed themselves in the line of duty." Jaune looked hopeful at that, a small glimmer of light appearing in his deep blue eyes. "Another case, however, had continued to work as a huntress. She died two years after she had contracted the disease. It ate through her Aura,then her body d her hen her mind, until there was nothing left." The sharp, almost pained look in Ozpins brown eyes told Jaune all he needed to know. The headmaster had been lying when he said he'd never seen it himself. The person he was talking about had been a friend of his, a close one at that. He had never seen Ozpin show so much emotion like this. "No case is quite like the other, nor is it exactly like yours, but they all had one factor that linked them all together, so take from that what you will."

"So, there's no telling just what will happen if I continue my training and try to become a hunter."

"That is correct." Ozpin took a small swig from his mug, "The only certainty is that if you choose to stop your journey on being a hunter and live as a normal civilian, there is a lower possibility of this illness harming you. The decision is entirely yours."

A thoughtful look came over Jaunes face, as he struggled to weigh his options. No matter which path he took, he knew he wouldn't be free of his ailment. It would always be in the back of his mind now, wondering when, if and how it would act up and force him to change his life for it.

"Can I-," muttering an internal curse at the crack in his voice, Jaune cleared his throat before continuing. "Can I have some time to think, please?" In any other circumstance, he would have been embarrassed at himself for sounding so weak but Jaune just couldn't force himself to care.

"Of course," Ozpin moved to stand, Miss Goodwitch let go of the young knights' shoulder before returning to the headmasters side.

"Your team has been sent back to your dorm a while ago, but if you wish then feel free to contact them and have them come back." Miss Goodwitch spoke softly, and if Jaune had been looking he would have noticed the apologetic look she was currently giving him.

Jaune just nodded his head, keeping his eyes trained on his lap to avoid looking into either of the adults' eyes.

Without another word, Jaune heard the two slowly make their way out of his room. The soft click of the door closing signifying that he was now alone once more.

Free from any judgement or pity, Jaune broke. Tears fell freely from his eyes, his teeth tearing at his lower lip to hold back the frustrated scream that threatened to come out. His fists all but tore the sheets apart from his tight grip, the sharp ache that shot through his body with each rough breath was easily overwritten by the emotional trauma he was suffering.

The blondes back thudded softly against the mattress, his left arm coming over his eyes in an attempt to stop the flood of his tears. His mind wandered back to the events that led up to the present, his eyes screwed shut as he allowed himself to get lost in his memories.

* * *

Jaune looked around his surroundings, his eyes scanning the forest for any potential danger that could pop out. A hand placed itself on his shoulder, making him jump as he swung around to look into the eyes of his partner, Pyrrha Nikos. Her green eyes filled with concern as she stared into his own.

"There's no reason to be so tense Jaune, this is just a simple training exercise." Pyrrha offered him a soft smile, and a reassuring pat on his back before moving forward and meeting up with the other six people they were with. His cobalt eyes scanned each person in front of him, taking their forms in as he hung back. No matter how many times he entered Grimm infested territory he couldn't shake his fear of it being the last time. He had been training with Pyrrha for a good while, even besting Cardin in one of Miss Goodwitchs' spars.

Even then, with all his improvement he failed to shake his fear. He questioned himself if he truly was the only one who felt any form of fear or unease. From the way everyone acted, it was only him. Yang and Ruby were talking back and forth excitedly about what kinds of Grimm they might face, Nora was… being Nora and recounting one of her extraordinary dreams to Ren, who continued to walk quietly. Now that Pyrrha had returned to the group, she and Weiss were talking about one of the tournaments she had been in. And Blake was on the other side of Pyrrha, she didn't seem interested in the conversation the two were having, more likely just trying to avoid being involved in the other two conversations that were kinda out of control.

A sigh escaped his lips before Jaune could stop himself, but luckily Pyrrha was to wrapped up in recounting one of her previous bouts to catch it. Another sigh followed as relief washed over him, he appreciated everything Pyrrha did for him, from the training, tutoring, and being supportive of him whenever he doubted himself. But she also could be a little to overbearing at times, like she wanted to do everything for him to protect him instead of allowing him the chance to try and learn from the experience on his own.

Shaking his head to derail that train of thought Jaune forced himself to take in his surroundings once more, focusing on the environment instead of his companions this time around. Surrounded by large trees on every side, blanketing the forest floor in their shade. Every so often there would be an occasional clearing or break in the tree line.

Before he could continue analyzing any further, a low growl broke out of nowhere causing his body to tense up and snap his head in the direction of the sound. One hand resting on the hilt of Crocea Mors as he turned his body fully in the direction of the noise. His eyes roved over the trees and bushes, looking for anything that stood out but he found nothing. He took one small step forward, pulling his sword free of its sheath with a small hiss of metal against metal before flipping the sheath up and attaching it to his left arm as it transformed into its shield form.

His eyes broke from the tree to his left to look for his team, only to find them missing and team RWBY gone with them. How did he not notice them continue to walk away from him? Was he that lost in his thoughts or did they just not notice he hadn't continued to follow them?

A louder growl broke out from his right and he was immediately ripped from his thoughts to search once more for the source of the sound. Only this time, his eyes instantly locked onto a pair of soulless glowing red eyes staring back into him. Jaune felt a chill run through his body and blood freeze as every one of his muscles tensed and wound up. Tightening his hold on Crocea Mors, Jaune slid into the stance his partner had practically beaten into him over the few weeks he had been training. His shield up and at the ready to defend against any possible attack.

Now in his stance, the blonde knight was contemplating his choices. To charge in against whatever Grimm that lay behind those bushes that stared at him, or wait for the monster to surge forward and make an attempt to attack him. Neither option felt best, he didn't know what his enemy was so attacking blindly felt wrong, but wasting time and letting his friends move further away as he waited for the Grimm to come out and strike wasn't good either.

Steeling his nerves, Jaune decided and took a step forward before breaking into a sprint. The Grimm leaped out of the shadows as well, ready to kill its prey that foolishly came to it. It revealed itself as a rather small Beowolf, quickly the beast brought its claws down hard, in an attempt to claw Jaunes eyes out. Jaune easily raised his shield to block the incoming attack, successfully blocking and absorbing it before he surged forward with a war cry and swinging his sword down swiftly across the Beowolfs chest.

The Beowolf recoiled and jumped a few feet away from Jaune as black blood began to seep out of the wound. A small grin grew on Jaunes face, unable to hide the joy he felt at the brief exchange. "All that training has actually paid off."

A loud roar erupted from the Grimms throat, almost as if responding to his words in some weird way. Jaune bent his knees, ready to charge forward once more and attack before a loud crash caught his attention and he looked off into the distance out of instinct. An instinct which quickly proved to be a mistake as his vision was suddenly filled with the large claws of the Beowolf to his side.

The blow slammed across his chest hard, his aura protecting him from any major damage but the sheer force still left him gasping for air as he slid across the ground on his back. Rolling over and pushing himself up, Jaune had just enough time to duck under another strike from the beast before he forced himself back onto his feet with Crocea Mors at the ready, aimed at the enemy in front of him.

Letting out another roar, the Grimm rushed forward on all fours, rearing up to bite into Jaune and take him out. Jaune was prepared however, and brought his shield up into the Grimm's maw and held the Beowolf where it stood. The knight saw his opening and took it with a furious thrust forward, burying his blade through its chest. A low whimper escaped the Beowolf as its form slumped against Jaunes body, black smoke floating off of it as it began to disappear into nothingness.

Jaune rolled out from under the disintegrating beast, before falling back and sitting on the harsh ground. His eyes continued to watch the monster before him though, even if he knew it was dead he couldn't fully relax. His free hand went into his pocket before fishing out his scroll and opening it up. "Ninety-seven percent. I thought I lost more than that."

A loud explosion sounded throughout the entire forest, urging Jaune to his feet before he took off sprinting in the direction, his eyes searching for any sign of his team or their sister team. It didn't take long to find them though, with the way Nora continued to launch explosives left and right with her weapon. The sound, not to mention the clouds of dust and shockwaves that rocketed around giving him a pretty clear idea of where to go.

Jaune burst through the tree line, his feet continuing to carry him as his eyes fell on the battle happening before him. Ren and Nora were fighting a King Taijitu, while Blake and Yang covered their backs by handling a horde of beowolves that would have surrounded them and cut off their maneuverability. His eyes moved over to the other three in their group to see Ruby, Weiss and Pyrrha all fighting off a Giant Deathstalker close to the edge of a ravine. The Deathstalker looked to be even larger than the one they had fought and slain in initiation. Pyrrha was handling the pincers while Ruby used the reach on her scythe to her advantage to fend off its stinger. Weiss looked to be casting glyphs and summoning ice in attempts to lock the beast in place. Looking between the two groups, it was easy for him to decide where to go and he charged over to his partner, letting out a yell to let her know he caught up.

She heard, and turned to him with a small smile blooming onto her face before it disappeared and changed into a look of panic. Apparently, his call hadn't gotten just her attention as the Deathstalker ignored the two people attacking it and came towards him, moving way faster than Jaune thoughts its legs would be able to carry it. Jaune moved forward as well, charging to meet the Deathstalker head-on.

"Jaune, don't!" He caught Pyrrha's warning cry a second before he let himself drop and slide across the ground and slip under the Deathstalkers claws and body, sliding under it and passed it before he jumped to his feet and ran over to the three who had regrouped, internally praising himself for the cool entrance and the fact it hadn't gone horribly wrong.

"Hey, sorry I'm late." He gave a sheepish smile before turning back around to see the monster move to face them again.

"Glad you could make it Jaune," Ruby chirped as she leveled her scythe in front of her.

"How on Remnant did you manage to get lost, and separated?" Weiss scowled at him for only a nano-second before all her attention was on the Grimm.

"Aww, were you worried about me Snow Angel?" He knew the response he would receive for that remark before he even said it, and the icy glare that made his blood freeze confirmed he was right. "Sorry, had to take a leak. Didn't expect you guys to get in a fight in the short time it would take to pee." Maybe a small joke would help ease some of the tension from the situation, at least he hoped so.

That caused Ruby and Pyrrha to let out a small giggle or smile at least, but the heiress didn't show any reaction other than the way her grip on Myrtenaster tightened. The Grimm let out a howl, moving forward to attack them once more. Jaune and Pyrrha both moved forward and caught its pincers as the Deathstalker tried to make a move to catch the pair with them. Jaune braced both arms on his shield and took the full force of its attack, his boots digging into the dirt to keep himself in place. Pyrrha on the other hand, clearly knew the right way to handle the monster and used her shield to offset and deflect the large claw aside, bringing up Milò and slicing at the exposed flesh of the Grimm.

Ruby flew over their heads, swinging Crescent Rose with all her strength in an attempt to cut off the beasts' tail which sadly failed in taking the limb off, but it did leave a large gash where it had hit. Weiss moved to the left of the Deathstalker, peppering its side with hits from her rapier before using a glyph and locking two of its legs in ice.

The Grimm did not take to kindly to now being trapped and thrashed its body wildly, effectively forcing them all to move back. Its tail sailed through the air at an almost blinding speed, hitting Ruby aside where she would have crashed painfully into the ground if Pyrrha hadn't rushed in and caught her. Immediately following up on its attack on the younger girl, the beast spun itself around with a speed Jaune didn't think it would be capable of with two of its legs frozen. It seemed Weiss was in the same boat as him as she got hit with the full force of its pincer slamming into her ribs and tearing the air from her lungs. She let out a yell in pain as she took the hit and began sliding across the ground, but managed to stay on her feet and stabbed Myrtenaster into the ground to keep her from sliding back any further and sailing into the ravine.

Unfortunately, it seemed that one attack had done way more damage than Jaune thought as Weiss dropped to one knee, struggling to get the air back into her lungs and keep her eyes on her enemy.

"Crap," was the only word Jaune could think to say as he shot off in her direction, trying to get in between her and the Grimm. Yet again, the Grimm surprised him by moving faster than Jaune thought it could.

The next part happened in slow motion for Jaune, the Deathstalker got to Weiss before he did and reared one of its pincers back, its claws opening so it could grab the heiress with it and cut her in half. He saw Weiss fight to get back onto her feet, her chest still heaving from the breath she just couldn't recover. Jaune screamed at his body, pushing himself to get there in time. And he did, he turned toward Weiss, and wrapped his arms around her. He wouldn't be able to stop the Grimms attack with his shield, especially with all the power the Deathstalker had put into it. He could only hope that his Aura, on top of his armor could hold it off just enough.

It had been a mistake to turn his back, if he hadn't, he would've seen that the Deathstalker closed its claws just short of them. He would've thrown them to the side, now that dodging the attack had become possible. Its attack impacted into his back, his teeth grinding together to keep the scream that threatened to burst forth down, until he noticed that his feet were no longer on the ground and he, while still holding Weiss, had been launched off of the cliff side.

He felt weightless for a few seconds until he felt the pull of gravity begging him to come back down. Just before he started falling, his eyes landed on Pyrrha and Ruby, both were staring at him in horror and then he fell. All he could see was the ravine, that steadily grew darker the farther they fell, and white hair that whipped around wildly.

He felt the heiress wrap her arms around his torso, he couldn't tell if she was screaming like he was though, the wind howling in his ears. _Think Arc, you have to slow down!_ Even with his Aura, wherever it rested at in that moment, wouldn't be enough alone to save him. His eyes locked onto the blade that was held in a death grip in his hand, then flicked to the rock wall just a short distance from him.

 _I'm going to lose my arm._ Jaune thought as he maneuvered himself in the air, and thrust his blade as deep into the rocks as he could. His left arm locking with all the strength he could muster on Weiss as he felt his body jerk as their descent slowed down. His teeth grit together, as he felt his shoulder explode into pain, the bone threatening to pop out of its socket. It was working! They were slowing down, and his arm was still attached to his body. Unfortunately, that appeared to be the last of his luck, as his sword suddenly caught in the cliff side and refused to move down. The force of the sudden stop of his blade caused young knight to lose his grip and they began to fall again, his eyes squeezed shut as he felt death itself grasp his heart as they freefell once more, only this time there was no way for him to slow them down or even stop it. He opened one eye against the wind and saw the ground fast approaching. With a last-ditch effort to at least let one of them live, he flipped so that he would impact the ground first and Weiss' landing might be cushioned somewhat by him. One final thought broke into his head, how it was his failure, his weakness that would result in the girl in his arms losing her life.

 _I'm so sorry Weiss._

Then his back made contact with the ground and his vision faded to black.

* * *

Jaune let out a hiss as his eyes snapped open and his body jerked, sending a whole new wave of pain throughout his body. He immediately noticed he was no longer laying in dirt but was back in the hospital bed he had been in before. A breath slipped out of his lips as he relaxed, his body feeling uncomfortable with the sweat the covered his entire body. His eyes seized shut as the light that broke through the cracks in the blinds burned his pupils. How long had he been out for?

Jaune ran his left hand through his damp hair, not taking the chance with his right and experience the pain that might erupt from the action. "What the hell do I do?" He questioned the empty room he was in.

The reality the headmaster had bestowed upon him upon waking up replayed in his mind. He heard the words as echoes, never perfectly clear and some overlapping the others. But the message was still crystal clear in his mind.

 _The decision is entirely yours._

Those words, that sentence rang the loudest, resonated to the deepest depths of his soul. This _disease_ , this ailment or curse or whatever other word they used to describe it as, had changed his life and the way he viewed his future. "If I give up, I pack up and go home then there's no risk." Except in doing that, he would be giving up much more than his dream of being a hunter, a hero. He would be giving up his team, his partner and all the effort and work she put into helping him improve, his first and arguably best friend at Beacon, and the first girl he had ever fallen for.

And if he chose to stay? He risked it all, and could end up losing them anyway! If he stayed, and continued training, continued fighting and moving forward then he could at least say he didn't give up, right? He could at least keep trying for his dream, and if it ended up getting cut short then he would have no regrets, because he didn't surrender to it, and fought against it till the end.

Cobalt eyes opened once more, hardened with renewed determination.

"I won't stop here."

* * *

 _ **And scene, I hope it was interesting and that you look forward to the future of this fic. I plan to update this often, but college life is just unpredictable and a bit of a pain so I can't make any promises. I will try not to let this die out though and update it whenever I can. Also, just know that Aura Poisoning is purposefully meant to be vague for now. You'll get more details through the story as Jaune uncovers the secrets of it and *cough* suffers *cough* through it. To properly place this in the RWBY-Timeline, it takes place in between the Volume One finale and the start of Volume Two.**_

 _ **I'd also like to quickly add that the pairing will and won't be the main focus of this story but it will play its own part when necessary .**_ _ **And one final note, if you have any criticism, or tips for writing or ways you feel might improve the experience, please feel free to express them and share your thoughts. I am new and learning as I go, so any and all feedback is appreciated.**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N: I wanna say a quick thank you for all the follows, faves and reviews. I really appreciate it. I'd like to apologize for how long this took to come out and the only real reason is because I finished it once before and got to work on the third chapter when the hard drive I saved all my writings to got corrupted and I lost almost everything I've ever written, both personal and fanfic related and it pretty much shot my drive to write at all for a good while. Its my own fault for not saving it to multiple places so Ill be double sure to do that from now on. Also, from here on out I also will do my best not to let this story go more than a month without an update.**_

* * *

When Weiss woke up on a rather nice and sunny Tuesday morning, she had expected a few things. The first being her partner, Ruby, hovering around her asking if she needed anything or if there was anything the younger girl could do for her. It had become a pattern ever since the training accident for Ruby to act in such a way, so that's why Weiss was completely and utterly confused as she woke not to Ruby looming above her, but to the loud and strange noise of her team leader squealing and shooting off of her bunk like some kind of rocket, tangled in her own blanket and sheets as she flew directly into the hard and unforgiving floor.

Apparently, the heiress wasn't the only one to be forced out of their slumber as the two other occupants in the room shot up in their own bunk beds. Blake was now sitting wide eyed in bed, with her bow flicking violently atop her head. While Yang was groaning like some kind of zombie with dull eyes and a pale face that helped only to further the idea that she actually was some undead creature.

"Ruby… I love you but what in the world are you doing?" Yang stared down on her sister from her bunk, refusing to leave the warmth of her sheets to aid the downed girl.

"Mrffbllrmmm…" The response Ruby gave was muffled by the carpet as she seemed to take a moment to calm down from whatever had excited her and removing herself from her tangled sheets.

Taking a deep breath to fight back the mounting headache, Weiss decided to speak up, "Ruby please, it's too early for this. Why are you acting so weird? And please get up before answering."

The brunette finally pushed herself up and got back onto her feet, but she refused to stand still as she bounced from one foot to the other. "I got a message from Jaune!" After that, she hopped onto her bed to grab her scroll before coming back to the floor and shoving the device into Weiss' face.

" _Hey Ruby, I'm_ \- ", that was all Weiss could read before the device was pulled away, and Ruby was showing her scroll to the others. She hadn't even had time to see if it was actually from Jaune. The mention of the blonde boy brought a small frown onto the heiress' face. Ever since they had returned from the Emerald forest and Weiss had recovered from her own injuries and learned of the ones Jaune had received in his attempts to protect her, she had been trying to figure out just how to act and treat him. On one hand, as much as she hated admitting it, Jaune Arc had saved her life and risked his own to protect her while suffering a good number of injuries in the process. However, on the other hand she had trouble looking beyond all her past experiences with him and his horrid attempts at flirting with her. That made her wonder if Jaune had only done it as some crazy attempt to woo her or if he truly considered her a friend and chose to risk his life on that.

It showed just how bad her view of him truly was that she didn't immediately know the answer, the heiress saw him as a friend of a friend at best and an annoyance at worst. Now Weiss was left in the uncomfortable position of owing him, and she had little to no idea of how to repay her debt. She could only hope that if he did ask for repayment in some way, it wasn't something outrageous or demeaning. Maybe he wouldn't ask for anything in return at all, but Weiss wasn't going to allow herself to be forever in debt to him especially when she felt a ball of guilt for in her stomach at the thought of Jaunes injuries.

"What do you think Weiss?" A loud voice sounded by her ear and broke her train of thought. Pale blue eyes slid over to meet silver ones that stared with some form of expectation.

"I'm sorry, I was lost in thought. What were you asking?" Ruby puffed up her cheeks and attempted to glare at Weiss, attempted being the key word as it just came off as more of a cute pout.

"I was asking if you wanted to come with me to go check on him. He said he already told his team, and that they were heading over to the infirmary now."

"Oh. Sure, just let me get ready and I'll go with you." Throwing off the sheets that seemed to be trying to pull her back into her peaceful sleep, Weiss moved to prepare her clothing for the day. "Will either of you be joining us as well?" Her eyes moved over to Blake, and Yang. The former giving her a small nod, while the brawler gave her a thumbs up before pulling the sheets back up and instantly falling back to sleep.

"I'll get her up in a bit, I have a few tricks to make sure she comes along." Ruby let out a devious giggle before she moved behind the heiress and began shoving her to the bathroom. "Now, hurry up! I wanna go as soon as possible."

Weiss bristled at the shoving but was able to hold back the urge to yell at the girl, instead she moved calmly into the bathroom and prepared herself for the day. Her eyes locked onto her reflection once she was done with getting dressed, focused mostly on the spot on her forehead where her wound used to be that was partly covered by her bangs. Slowly, Weiss brought one hand up and brushed her bangs out of the way and studied the space on her forehead, looking for any sign of scarring. Luckily for Weiss, her aura had healed the wound completely and left no scars or blemishes to show that it had ever even been there. It was a small blessing that she hadn't ended up with yet another scar on her face that would be forever on display for anyone who saw her.

One last once over of her appearance, and Weiss pulled open the door only to run directly into Yang as Ruby fought to force her older sister inside. A small huff of laughter escaped her lips as she sat down on her bed and watched the rest of her team get ready. Hopefully she'll have come up with a plan of what she would say to Jaune once they were all done.

* * *

Upon arriving at the infirmary, team RWBY moved quickly towards Jaunes room. Even if they hadn't visited it a few times before, it would've been impossible to not find it with how loud Nora was being with her cries of joy at her leader's recovery. The doctors and nurses outside the room that were trying to get her to quiet down were also a bit of a tell.

Giving the staff a quick apology and a promise to be quiet, the four entered the room to a strange sight that none of them really expected but at the same time weren't too surprised at. On Jaune's left, Pyrrha sat with one hand holding his and talking to him. On the blonde's right side was Ren, who had a hand on his shoulder in support and Ren's other hand was on Nora's shoulder pushing her back. Because, in classic Nora fashion, seeing that both the knights right and left sides were filled she decided to hop onto Jaunes bed and hover above him.

While Yang was busy laughing at the predicament Jaune had found himself in, Ruby decided to announce their presence to the room.

"Hey Jaune! Glad you're up!" The young girl bounded up next to Pyrrha, waving at her in greeting before turning back to Jaune. "How're you feeling?"

Jaune gave them all a small smile, "I feel okay, my everything is still pretty sore but I'm just glad to be awake."

"We all are Jaune." Pyrrha spoke softly, her grip on his hand tightening just a bit more. "All of us were pretty worried after you didn't wake up on the first day."

"Oh, uh…" The look on his face as he looked around the room showed that even after the pain and panic he went through, Jaune was still the same awkward teenager he was before. "Sorry for scaring you all, I won't let it happen again."

"No problem Jauney." Nora cheered as she was finally pulled off of the bed by Ren, and came to rest at the dark-haired boys side. "Next time you go cliff diving, I demand to come with you."

"Sorry, but that was a one-time deal. At least I hope so, cause hitting the ground hurt like no other."

"I'm still having a hard time believing that bit Vomit Boy, but I guess having so much aura comes in handy, huh?" Yang teased, walking up and patting Jaune lightly on his head. It was then that Weiss noticed something, at the mention of his aura, Jaunes face looked distressed or panicked for just a moment before returning to a small, almost tentative smile. What had that been about?

"Yep, I guess it does." His voice held a weird edge to it, but just like the look on his face, it vanished in an instant. "So what's been going on since I've been out?"

As most of them began to fill the knight in on what he had missed, Weiss took the time to study him. From some of his reactions to the things they said, but also looking over what injuries the boy still had. There were still bandages and gauze wrapped around his abdomen, shoulder, and the majority of his right arm, his thin hospital gown sticking to them and making the wrapping stand out all the more. Even if she wasn't allowed to view his medical charts, Pyrrha had been more than willing to fill all of them in on Jaunes condition, from all of his injuries to any progress he had made while unconscious.

None of that explained the bizarre reaction to the mention of his aura, but right now Weiss had a far more important matter to focus on. Namely, finding a way to break into the conversation and thank Jaune, even if doing so in front of everyone else was rather humiliating. Then she could let the matter die and forget all about the stupid training accident. Before she could speak up, Weiss caught Ruby staring intently at the side of her head before the reaper nodded to herself and stepped forward.

"Is there anything you need Jaune?" Ruby called out, yelling above the hum of their small crowd.

"No, I'm fine Ruby."

"But… But…" Weiss wasn't the only one who started laughing at the heartbroken look on the young girl's face.

"Umm, maybe some food, if I'm allowed to eat any solid foods. Could you do that?" Ruby performed a mock salute before vanishing from the room in a blur of rose petals.

"I'm gonna go make sure she doesn't tackle a nurse to get you some food," Yang left with a small chuckle and shake of her head.

"Oooh, you think they'll make pancakes Ren?" Nora was already heading for the door before the question even left her lips.

"I don't know, we can go check with Ruby and Yang." Ren gripped Jaune's shoulder one final time before moving over to Nora and exiting the room with her.

Weiss noticed something was off in that moment, especially when she noticed that Pyrrha and Blake shared a look before their eyes moved over to her and then onto Jaune, who looked terribly confused. _Oh no. Oh no, no, no! I need more time to think of a plan._ Unfortunately for the heiress, her fears were confirmed as Blake and Pyrrha stood at the same time, each with their own excuses and walked out the door and shutting it, effectively sealing Weiss' fate. A part of her wondered if they had all spoken and planned this out from before Jaune had woken up.

"You can go too, if you want Weiss," Jaune's voice snapped Weiss out of her initial panic, only to bring a new wave with it.

"I'm sorry?"

"I'm just saying you can go get some breakfast too, if you want. I don't mind."

"No… No, I believe I have a few things I need to say to you Jaune." Weiss forced down her nervousness, and forced her eyes to meet his. She didn't know what to expect when she looked into them, but all she could see was mild confusion. That look seemed pretty natural for the boy.

Weiss took a quick breath, she needed thank him. She knew that. Knowing it, and actually thanking him were two separate things. It didn't help that her opinion of Jaune was still considerably low even after he saved her.

"Listen Jaune, I just wished to…" Her nails began to dig into her palm as she struggled to force the words out. "I wished to _thank_ you." There, she said it. Now all Jaune had to do was accept it and this awkward and uncomfortable moment would end.

Jaune's eyes widened in surprise before slowly drawing together in confusion, "Thank me? You don't need to thank me Weiss. We're friends, I'm sure you would've done the same for me."

He seemed confident in everything he said, the problem for Weiss was that she wasn't. She still couldn't see him as an actual friend, and she wasn't sure she would willingly leap into harm's way to save him if it came down to it.

"Even so, my team and not to mention the headmaster himself said that if it wasn't for what you had done, I wouldn't be here now. So, thank you." Her tone had become sharper as she went on, her eyes narrowing into a glare as she hoped Jaune wouldn't force her to thank him a third time.

"Well, I- uh, you're welcome then." Jaune seemed to fold under her gaze, his left arm coming up to scratch the back of his head. A nervous habit that she had noticed from even before the accident. "So, is that all you needed to say?"

If any one in any other situation had asked her that, she would've taken it badly, assuming that it was meant in a challenging and belittling way. He seemed to be genuinely asking if there was anything else she wanted to say. "No, there is one other thing that I would like to discuss with you."

"Okay, what is it?"

Weiss looked away from the boy in favor of looking out his window as she spoke, "I would like to repay you, for what you did."

"Well, I wouldn't mind a da-." Jaune shut his mouth with an audible click as she fixed her iciest stare onto him. Even if he was saying it in jest, she didn't want to hear him say that. "I'm sorry, that wasn't funny." Understatement of the century.

"Do you have any serious thoughts on what you'd like?"

"Not really, there isn't anything I want."

Was he trying to be difficult on purpose or just trying to be humble and down play the whole thing? Either way, it was beginning to pull on her nerves. The heiress quickly counted to ten in her head and reminded herself that it wouldn't be much of a thank you if she were to add to his list of wounds. "Is there anything you need then?"

"Uuhhh," Weiss could feel her eye twitch as he dragged on the sound, "I don't think so, I mean Pyrrha already helps me train and stuff. I don't think I need anything."

Weiss wasn't sure why he had brought up his training but the thought made her pause. Surely Pyrrha was the better teacher in terms of combat for Jaune, especially since she used a similar weapon set. Maybe she could help him in another area, he certainly wouldn't have any reason to deny the offer since she did have one of the best grades in their year. "Tutoring."

"What?" Jaune sounded lost, again it seemed like a natural state of being for him.

"I can tutor you. You did miss a few lectures with your little nap. I'll help you catch up on the work you missed and even with a few papers afterwards."

"Really? I mean, sure! That would be great." She hadn't expected such an enthusiastic response to the offer but she wouldn't start to complain now.

"Very well, whenever you are cleared to leave we can schedule a time for it." And then she would officially be out of his debt, and everything could go back to normal.

Before Jaune could speak up again, a loud crash sounded out as the door flew open and Ruby, Yang, and Nora all crashed down into the floor. "We weren't eavesdropping!" Ruby cried out as she jumped back to her feet, a bright red blush on her face. Unlike Ruby, who was at least a little embarrassed at being caught, Yang and Nora just brushed themselves off with a teasing smirk and a megawatt grin respectively.

"Why would you?" Jaune started to ask before he just shook his head. "Did you get anything for me to eat Ruby?"

"Huh?" The reaper turned to stare into Jaunes blue eyes, her own silver orbs blinking owlishly.

"You said you were gonna get me some food if I was allowed it."

"What? No, I didn't." Weiss felt her eye twitch, Ruby had just confirmed that not only were they listening in on the conversation, but it had been the plan from the very beginning to leave her alone with Jaune, and then listen to make sure the heiress thanked him.

"Yes you di-."

"Nope."

"Ruby, I actually am hungry and would like some food."

"Nope."

Thankfully Yang stepped in before Jaune continued what was sure to be an endless cycle of denials. "Hehe, sorry Vomit Boy. We just wanted to make sure Weiss-cream actually thanked you."

The sole male in the room nodded his head slowly and then shifted his gaze over to his teammate, "And you, Nora?"

Nora just shrugged, her grin still in place. "I saw these two hanging back so I did too."

"Wait, so then where did Ren go?"

The man in question showed back up before Nora could respond, carrying a plate of pancakes and bacon. Pyrrha, and Blake both trailing behind him. "Here Jaune, I checked with your nurse and she said it was fine for you to eat. I'm surprised they were actually serving pancakes though."

"Ooooh gimme gimme!" Nora cheered as she stalked closer to the plate of food. Ren clearly knew that would be her reaction to seeing her favorite food and nodded his head back towards Pyrrha who was holding a plate of just pancakes.

"Those are all yours Nora." He set the plate down for Jaune and pulled some silverware out of his pocket and handed those over as well. "I also asked them when you would be free to leave here."

"Oh? What'd they say?" Jaune asked before digging into his breakfast, scarfing the food down quickly.

"You'll be stuck here for today and a portion of tomorrow, they want to keep you for observation."

"Well that's great." The look of despair that came over his face at the prospect of being stuck any longer in the hospital was enough to cause a few laughs at his expense. His eyes slid over to the clock that hung on the wall. "Isn't there classes in a little bit from now?" That question caused Weiss to allow her gaze to move over to the clock as well and sure enough they had a lesson with Professor Port in the next thirty minutes.

"Yes, we do. I suppose this is a good time to make our leave then." Ren spoke as he nodded to his two female teammates, "We'll be sure to come back during lunch and after the afternoon classes as well."

"Okay, sure. I'll find a way to keep myself entertained."

Weiss moved with their small group as they all said their goodbyes to the blonde boy and prepared to head off to class. When Weiss left the room, she spared one last look for Jaune, her eyes meeting his as she gave a polite nod before walking down the hallway. That small visit had gone better than she had hoped, now she would just need to work out a study plan for them and get it over with. Her eyes moved over to Pyrrha who was walking beside her with a smile on her face. "You seem pretty ecstatic to have your leader back."

"Oh yes, it was starting to be pretty hard to keep a brave front on for everyone for a while." The redhead kept her face forward but did nod in Weiss' direction to show she was focused on her. "The doctors told us just a bit before you all showed up that nothing will leave any lasting problems so I'm even more relieved."

"That's good, I'm glad." Weiss let the conversation between the two of them die out after that and refocused on what their small group was talking about, intent to just remain silent on the way to class.

On the trip to Professor Ports classroom and throughout the entire class Weiss spent the majority of her focus on thinking of what assignments Jaune had to catch up on and what the best way to go about his tutoring would be. A huff of hot air shot out of her nostrils as she forced herself to focus on the asinine story being told but her mind almost immediately went back to Jaune and the current state he was in, trapped in bed with bandages covering so much of his body.

All because of her failures, her weaknesses, she would never say it to her team or anyone else for that matter but she did feel a great amount of guilt and responsibility for what had happened even if she didn't show it. It didn't matter that it was Jaune who saved her, it could have been any of them or even a random stranger and the guilt of it would still be crushing her. It had been her mistakes and her failures that caused another person to end up in that state, she wouldn't let that happen again. She would be better so no one would ever need to save her again. A sigh escaped her lips as she tried to stop her thoughts from racing any further. Jaune was awake, he was healing and would be free of the infirmary in just over a day, and they had come to an agreement on how she would repay him. All she had to do now was do it and then she would be free of the shadow looming over her. Even then, that thought did nothing to help alleviate any of the negative feelings currently raging inside her.

 _If only that stupid exercise had never happened._

* * *

Jaune let out a breath as he finished another routine check up, this time testing and gauging how well his right arm was recovering. It was getting a lot better and no longer felt like dead weight hanging off his shoulder. The nurse informed him that it would be one more night and he should be free to leave, free of the acrid scent of antiseptic and the overbearingly white walls. His mind stuck on one small fact of the little reunion he'd had with his team, none of them had mentioned the problem with his aura and he was sure they wouldn't have been so honestly happy and relieved if they had known. But that only begged the question of why didn't they know?

Did Ozpin not tell them? Jaune struggled to think of any reason why he wouldn't have done so but it none made too much sense to him. He pressed a hand to his forehead to think for just a few seconds before releasing a deep breath. Right now, there wasn't any way for him to really ask the headmaster why he chose to do that and he honestly didn't want to think about it anymore than he already had been. "Guess I'll just wait till the next time I see him." Jaune muttered to himself as he forced himself to think of something else.

It almost immediately focused onto the new arrangement he had with Weiss, from what he could see in their exchange was that she wasn't being as cold to him as she normally was but she most certainly wasn't swooning for him either. Not that he even expected her to after the accident, he was surprised she even thanked him. It surprised him even more though that she offered to spend time with him and help him of her own volition. Maybe this could be a chance to start fresh with her, his feelings for her hadn't changed but just maybe he could focus on just being her friend now and maybe one day it could be more. A sigh escaped his lips, it felt weird to think of a future for himself now after what had just happened not even twenty-four hours ago but he already said he wasn't going to stop and let this control him. He reached over and picked up his scroll off the table by his side, for now he would just play some games and wait for his team to come back.

* * *

 _ **So, something felt off to me about this chapter and I just couldn't place it. I rewrote it and tweaked it but none felt any better so I just decided to finish it as is. Maybe it was because I was writing from Weiss' perspective for the first time, or this chapter just sucks, or its all in my head. It could be any and/or all three and it wouldn't surprise me if it was.**_

 _ **If it is bad, sorry but I'd rather put it out now and move on then be stuck on the chapter for any longer, I'm sure I'll get better with portraying Weiss' character and perspective the more I write it so for now they might not feel as fluid or easy as Jaunes was. Practice makes perfect though so I'll do better in the future.**_

 _ **Also, I'd just like to give my thanks once more for all the support from the first chapter, I honestly didn't expect it. I'll see you next chapter, hopefully my school will calm the hell down with all the tests and exams by then.**_


End file.
